Dancing with Himself

Andy telling one of my favorite stories in my living room. Photo by Justin.

I met Andy Ross at a Moth StorySLAM, but it was at his one-man show, Melancomedy, that I knew we were really meant to be friends. My first thought in the audience that night was, How does this guy NOT have a job writing for TV? My next thought was, This work is hilarious and completely endearing.

That evening I realized the reason I don't enjoy a lot of comedy is that so many jokes are created at the expense of ridiculing people or tearing them down. But Andy's show isn't like that. There's a compassion and a level of insight present in the portrayals of his characters that has you laughing not so much at them as at yourself, and our common humanity. I adore him for that.

We've been friends ever since, and having him and his wife, Colleen in our lives is a gift. My girls climb them like trees and wrestle and chase through our apartment right up until bedtime. We argue like siblings and laugh at each other, then ourselves, then each other again.

Recently, when I was completely off the map, Andy celebrated the 200th post on his blog, Wait for It, with the video below. It makes me so ridiculously happy that I don't want anyone to miss it--so give it a spin and then head over to his website for more videos, great writing, and endless laughs.